Fruit T bag wine

[MrsCordial]

Urgh. This is turning into a mare, and I am getting VERY bad-tempered!

I have everything I need, at last. First part went fine. It's all turning into a living hell getting the specific gravity right. I loathe maths and numbers, so that's not helping. Honestly, I feel 16 again and about to cry in maths O level! I think I have grasped that an SG of 1.080 +/- is going to be just above the 1.100 marking (in vertical terms, if not numerical - I dunno), but by no means am I confident of that. This side of home brewing could see me abandon the whole thing completely!

The real PITA now though is getting the sugar to dissolve in the DJ. I'm adding about 250g at a time then sampling, but the sugar is now starting to sit in a layer at the foot of the DJ. I'm swirling for all I'm worth, but it's not mixing in. Given that I can't measure the SG til the sugar's dissolved, what do I do now? AND I realised when I was more or less upturning the DJ with my hand over the (open) end that my hands aren't sterile so I've probably just contaminated the whole bloody lot.

HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP! *runs off and cries*

[Hazel at the Hill]

HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP! *runs off and cries*

....and breathe.

Right. SG - yes, it's a bit of a menace taking the readings. I'll see if I can take a pic and show the markings - but that will have to wait till this evening.

With adding the sugar - it dissolves far easier in hot liquid, so what I do with the tea bag wine is boil the teabags in a litre or so of water, turn the heat off and let them steep for 15mins. Put a bag of sugar in a (sterile) bucket then strain the brew into there. Give it all a good stir with a (sterile) wooden spoon and it will dissolve without difficulty.

Then add the 2l of grape juice and top up with cold water to a gallon(ish). Once it's cool, measure the SG (it'll be about 1.080 - i.e the hydrometer riding quite high), add your yeast etc and you're away!

[MrsCordial]

Aha Hazel, that order of events would work better - thank you.

I sterilized a wooden spoon with an entire kettle of boiling water but the DJ must have seen me coming as the sugar had more or less dissolved. To my horror the SG is about 140 - I really haven't got a clue about how to interpret these numbers (not a good position to be in, I know) but I do know that that's way too sweet and I'm making teabag liqueur! I added a wee bit extra yeast in the hopes I might end up with just a really strong wine instead of a really sweet one.

Oh well. If something's worth doing, I guess it's worth screwing up the first 500 times, even something so simple it's recommended to the most clueless beginner

[Two_Sheds]

Urgh. This is turning into a mare, ... I really haven't got a clue about how to interpret these numbers

I guess it's worth screwing up the first 500 times, even something so simple it's recommended to the most clueless beginner

That's precisely why we had you start off with this wine, rather than the (more complicated) whole fruit ones.

The penny will drop. It's just practise. I had horrible times trying to understand the hydrometer, like you. It did drop: follow Hazel, she's the best

How to use a Hydrometer


If your wine is too sweet, simply pour some away and replace with boiled water

[MrsCordial]

Thanks Two Sheds I hadn't realised the hydrometer was going to be such a stealth PITA! I'm going to start another batch of this next week (I'll hang on to the old one too) and try the alternative order of events Hazel suggests. If I used camomile tea bags and apple juice, presumably I'd get a light white?

Thanks for the link. It didn't help yesterday that Chromium refused to show videos and Firefox wouldn't open, and then my four year old was being a pain - just possibly, it was not an auspicious moment to choose

[brewing guru]

are the tea bags fruit flavoured or just normal tea????

[zazen999]

are the tea bags fruit flavoured or just normal tea????

Um...you've read the title?

[kirsty b]

Started a gallon yesterday, really hope it comes out ok, don't have pectolase unfortunately but did a bit of googling and found out that I can add it at a later date if a haze develops. Must say it is a lively wine, fermenting merrily in the living room. If it comes out ok, will have a bash at the five gallon recipe! Also have one of my Wilko Chardonnay kits on the go too. Did add some red grape concentrate, but only cos I had it handy. Went for raspberry and cranberry tea bags, smelled nice, so hope the flavour is good too.


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[adamhartree]

I have just made a gallon of orange,lemon,lime fruit tea bags that I got for 2p a box at asda on a whoops sticker. However I made it with 60 bags to give it a little more flavour along with 1kg sugar. It tasted really nice actually before I put it in the Demi Jon,hopefully it tastes nice when it finishes.

[MrsCordial]

I think I've sussed at last what's going wrong with all my wine. I racked and bottled one fairly unappealing lot and left it in the kitchen for a couple of days before I got round to sticking it in the garage. Then spotted that it was fermenting again and quite vigorously - yes, I had forgotten to add a campden tablet. I think it's just that the kitchen is warmer than the downstairs loo, where the DJs sit, and it's now getting the burst of warmth it needed. It's not practical to keep the DJs in the kitchen so I'll have to come up with something else.

On the upside, this batch of wine might be okay after all!

[the big lebowski]

hi all i`ve brewed quite a few lagers before and am just waiting for my2nd and 3rd batches of tea bag wines to mature, in all of them ive added 300g of suger the 1st one a mixed berry type was lovely (thanks shirl great recipe) but is that enough ? other people seem to be adding alot more when i looked at the end of this thread(around pages 18 & 19) i havent used a hydrometer as when im doing my lager i`ve got so used to when it is ready i dont need to ,any advice would be welcome, thanks

[simon12]

I am just trying it for the 1st time today and according to the hydrometer it took a 1Kg bag of sugar to get it to 1.07

[Naga]

I done this too! I had a winekit but added the tea bags and it's gonna go for bottling tomorrow. It's a really nice colour but it seems a bit strong on the alcohol side and almost has a chemical rubber smell/taste. Infact it reminds of the old 20/20 Mad Dog drinks.

Since degassing ans stabilizing it doesn't smell as strong but stil smells like the above. I guess keeping it a bottle for a while will help?

[darcyvuqua]

I remember being really really young and my grandad making this


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[Closet Brewer]

Just finished the last bottle of a 2012 batch of fruit T-bag wine! It was really rich, almost tasted like sherry. I'd stabilised and sweetened it at some point, but didn't like how it tasted so left it in the cupboard and forgot about it...

It really improved with age I'd recommend anyone who makes this to stash a couple of bottles away (if you can!) and leave them for a couple of years.